Abstract:
This article focuses on Andries van Aarde’s work on the historical Jesus and especially his
book, Fatherless in Galilee, which made an important contribution to historical Jesus study in
South Africa. In the first part of the article Van Aarde’s historical and social approaches are
highlighted, his ongoing reflection on the resurrection described and his work on the Infancy
Gospel of Thomas accentuated. In the second part we discuss Van Aarde’s depiction of Jesus as
someone who grew up fatherless. For Jesus this meant a lifelong struggle against slander and
exclusion from the temple and the presence of God. Jesus nevertheless trusted God who filled
Jesus’ emptiness. Jesus was baptised and then started a ministry, focusing on the outcasts of
society. He preached that the kingdom of God had come and that the people of this kingdom
could experience God, as well as forgiveness of sins. Jesus died but arose in the kerygma. The
article also refers to the struggle of the authors of the New Testament writings to understand
and express the Jesus event.
